God's Channel

3 John 1: 2, a passage many of us know well, says, "Beloved, I wish above all things that you will prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prospers." And as I was praying the other day, the Lord spoke this word to me and I saw this passage in a whole new way. What is the soul really? I know that it is our mind, will and emotions but as I was referencing it, here’s what I found out. The soul, by the right use of aids offered it by God, can attain it’s highest end. I began to see this passage with the word "as" being like a mirror. The state of my health and prosperity being a reflection of what’s in my soul. If I am looking in the mirror and I am sick in my body or am lacking some way in any area of my life, I have to ask...what does my soul look like? Am I using it the way God intended to attain my highest end...which would be to prosper and be in health? That’s a good question today...worth exploring.

Something interesting I discovered also about this passage was that the word health of course is dealing with our physical well being but it also speaks of Christians whose opinions are free from any mixture of error, of one who has not deviated from truth. And to prosper is to have success based on what we think, feel or decide. So read this passage in light of that, in the Stacey Blubaugh Translation, of course. Beloved, I wish above all things that you will have success and be free from any mixture of error or deviation from the truth, even as your soul finds success in it’s way of thinking, feeling and deciding. You see, when we, with our mind and our will take on God’s way of thinking, feeling or deciding, every part of our life can be free. To be in lack, to be sick, to be depressed, is a mixture of error...a deviation from the truth and God wants us to be free from that! Amen?

Many of us are facing hard times today...walking through something, whether it’s physically, emotionally, relationally or even financially. But God’s word holds the answer, no matter what and God was so gracious to illustrate His word for me and show me why some things look the way they do in my life. You see, if true prosperity, as defined in this passage is a way a thinking, feeling or deciding. It’s a choice and is a direct result of what I chose to think on, how I chose to feel and what I decide to believe. Our soul is intended by God to be a channel for health and prosperity to pass through but every thought contrary to His, every feeling that yields to anything other than His word and any decision we make that would go against what He has decided to be "right" for us, through Jesus Christ, begins to build up in that channel and the flow begins to slow until it is like a clogged pipe. Sure, we may get a drop here and there but until we renew our mind, the flow is stopped up. And in order to do that, we must intentionally direct our thoughts toward God and all of His goodness & renew our mind in His word!